How to Remove Glow in the Dark Stars

They seemed like such a good idea when your sons or daughters were young--glow-in-the-dark stars on their bedroom ceiling and walls. Magical. Now that your children are older, you want to redecorate the room and repaint it, but you are finding those stars to be stubborn and brittle. They won’t come off the wall easily. You can work and work at it, picking each one off with your fingernail, but there are easier ways to go about the task.

Things You'll Need

Single-edged razor utility scraper

Solvent

Clean cloth

Medium grade sandpaper

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Scrape the glow-in-the-dark stars with a single-edged utility scraper. Use quick, brisk strokes. Sometimes this alone may be enough and the glue will come off as you scrape. But in most cases, adhesive residue will remain on the wall after the stars are removed.

Use a solvent on any remaining adhesive residue. Citri Solve and Goo Gone are a couple of choices. Squirt a small amount on a clean cloth and wipe the cloth over the area. These products may also remove some of the paint from the area you are cleaning, but this will not be a problem if you are planning to repaint. If you are not planning to repaint, you will want to test for this first on an area that is not obviously noticeable.

Lightly sand over the area where the stars were if you plan to paint. This will remove any small amount of remaining adhesive residue. It will also remove any oil the solvents may have left, which would make it difficult for paint to adhere. Use medium grade sandpaper.